I actually CAN wash my shoes (Keen sandals) but I didn’t today (and they do NOT go in the dryer!). I did wash, lemme see, eight beach towels, an uncountable number of bath towels/washclothes, and all of the kitchen towels/dishcloths except the gray/white striped one under the sink, which I forgot. And some articles of clothing including two maxi skirts, which I don’t put in the dryers and THIS TIME managed NOT to put them in somebody else’s car🐽 My mouse took some sheets home to wash. I hate messing around with sheets up here and always schlep a sleeping bag, which I am comfortable in. This is an old pic but I used TWO of these triple loaders today.

I am not complaining. Along with being Garbage Woman, I am the head washerwoman around here. When the beach urchins were tots, we would make expotitions to the laundromat with The Commander (their grandmother). They enjoyed those expotitions (lunch and shopping were usually part of the trip). I do remember one incident when they had a little set-to and the woman who ran the laundromat disciplined them. Apparently my mom and I were not taking care of it to her disciplinary standards but it’s okay because she and The Comm were friendly.

After a few years, I took over the laundry. Except The Comm’s underwear, which she preferred to wash herself in her own musheen at the Dillon House. It was a mixed bag whether I had “help” or not. I like to get to the laundromat EARLY so I don’t have to wait for musheens and most teens/preteens sort of turn into slug-a-beds for a few years. So there were fun times like when everybody draped mouse with laundry and fun times when it was just me and Pengo Janetto (my real niece) who was a little younger and not quite as sluggy as the others.

For complicated reasons, I eventually switched laundromats and now go to the Up North place down by the locks. I love this place. I put my laundry in the warshing musheen(s) and go sit OUTSIDE to read or do my morning internet stuff. The warshers are fast and then when I put stuff into dryers, I set my phone timer for the shortest dryer time and go back outside.

This is a great laundromat. Most of the musheens are operational most of the time. The change musheen WORKS! The young man who runs the place is friendly and the bathroom is clean although I still avoid it. This is my third trip to the laundromat this summer. When I first went, mask wearing was spotty including the GG who insisted on accompanying me but then walked down to Frank’s for breakfast. Mask wearing has increased the last two times. Because I go EARLY, there are very few customers while I’m there and I spend most of my time outside.

Yeah, so back into the good old ball and chain today. Amazon Woman moved our weekly touch base meeting to right after the standup and that was a good thing because after my Busman’s Holiday I was having a terrible case of What Do I Do For A Living? It’s hard to describe my job coherently so I won’t but although I certainly have assigned tasks and prodjects, what I actually DO every day can vary greatly. Interestingly enough, I have the same job title as my “niece” (1st cousin once removed). We were a bit thunderstruck to discover that. But she works for a huge retail outfit and I’m in online banking and without talking in detail, we had a meeting of the minds that we likely do very different things on a daily basis. Whatever she does, she is a Force of Nature who is passionate about her career!

We do have bares bears here but this bear scat was out on the North Country Trail somewhere. At this season they are usually deep in the woods although one was encountered on my brother’s commemorative trail a couple weeks ago.

Of course this bear crap dredged up an old memory from when I first started dating my second boyfriend. I was a high school junior and he was a college freshman who had gone to my high school. He was a wonderful person and would never have left me walking around the I500 snowmobile track alone in the dark like Bad BF did. But we didn’t make it. The Commander LOVED the GG and his identical twin but she did once ask me what happened with Second BF. It was an odd question for her to ask but she had married my dad at 22 and was a widow at the time she asked the question and I think she was just curious why I didn’t do the same kind of thing as she did. I’m not sure what exactly happened to me and Second BF but I just kinda fell outta love. I fell IN love with a few guys in between him and the GG but nothing lasted. And I’m not dissing any of those guys. It was what it was and I hope their lives have been happy and successful. Mine certainly has been.

But that wasn’t where I was intending to go with the bear poop thing. When I was first dating Second BF and I was meeting his friends, they were a couple-three years older than me. The drinking age at that time was 18 and they could drink alcohol but I could not (legally) but I did sometimes have a couple beers. One winter night his friend “Chewy” got soooo drunk that my BF dropped him off at his house (where he had a wife and at least one child at like 20 years old). BF for whatever reason didn’t check to make sure he GOT INTO THE HOUSE but then circled back around and found him in the snow. And helped him get inside. Chewy was dubbed Mr. Bear Nature for a while after that.

I’m not sure where these people are now. They were good people. Chewy became a cop. Last I knew BF was an accountant for Boeing maybe? He’s probably retaaarrrred now? I dunno. I do not try to connect with old BFs on Facebook.

First of all, YES, I did forget to upload yesterday’s post until my mouse asked me about it this morning. I was having toooo much fun.

Sadly, everyone is gone now (except for the guy in the pic and he’s leaving tomorrow). The beach urchins, my “niece” (actually first cousin once removed), and their friends left this morning. In the olden days we frequently had 9-10 people here but back then, a lot of them were like two feet tall or whatever. It’s a bit more challenging when everyone is full-sized and a couple people are over six feet 🐸. I’m NOT COMPLAINING (we do need better beds though). It was waaaaaay fun but probably wouldn’t be sustainable for an entire season, especially one featuring lots of rain and wind. Like the infamous 2-year-old summer (I was the oldest of the three 2-year-olds and remember bits of this but not the egg punching). This summer it’s usually easy to be outside.

I miss my daughters a lot and there were tears upon leave-taking this morning. They are sooooo much help. My “niece” telecommuted most of the week and I loved her quiet companionship. Their friends were wonderful guests. People in both of my families of origin are good at picking friends and significant others. Well they usually are but we won’t go there 🐽

The yeti in the pic is heading down tomorrow and when he gets home he has the loverly chore of disposing of all of the rotten food in the Landfill Refrigimatator. Because the Landfill has been without lucky-shuckial power since… Drum roll… Thursday? I think? I think the storms rolled through on Wednesday but we didn’t lose power until the next morning. At any rate, my mouse swung by on her way home to Moutainland and reports that the loverly hardwood floor is dry. Whew!

We won’t lose much as the fridge was quite empty and most items of value from the freezer are up here. I’ve never been one to own a stand-alone freezer. I figure if I did, I’d be periodically throwing out 10-year-old food. The Planet Ann Arbor is a cornucopia and if you need food, you can get it quickly, even in a pandemic as it turns out. I remember when we thought we’d be eating rice and beans for the duration.

I’m gonna stay here indefinitely, which means I’ll probably drive down later in the week. Why am I staying here? Because I CAN (I’ll be telecommuting). I spent the day slowly cleaning the fridge and reacquainting myself with its contents. It was in great shape but needs a “reset” so it’ll be ready when the cousins from the PacNW arrive around the Labor Day holiday. They’ll be staying next door at our childhood log cabin so the moomincabin won’t be terribly overcrowded but we’ll be buying plenty of food so we can recreate our childhood Community Dinners between the Old Cabin and the moomincabin.

Love y’all, KW

I had a big hole in my red maxi skirt and I was caught (by my children) flashing people at Meijer. My children were horrified about this and my mouse fixed the hole. And then she did some fancy embroidery to fix some stuff on the GG’s black fly t-shirt.

I engineered a FinFam Steak Dinner today here at the moomincabin. It worked out well. Steak, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, broccoli, and roasted peppers. It was good but I am kinda done. And my young cousin and her friends did the dishioshios🧡

I watched the great lakes freighter Sykes go down today. The Sykes has been a family fave since forever. Other faves have been the Cliffs Victory which is not around any more. And there’s the Ryerson and I’m not sure if that’s in service any more. The Sykes still is but it doesn’t make into Lake Superior very often so when it does I want to make sure I see it.

My day today? I went to get some grocks. Again. I went to Pat’s today. I love Meijer but I also like to support local grocery stores and Pat’s is a good one.

I went through the U-Scan. I put a green pepper on the scanner expecting to have to look it up, I was totally surprised when the musheen showed me a picture of green peppers and one other thing. I clicked on the green pepper and entered the quantity. I shouted (politely) over to the U-Scan cashier “this thing is REALLY SMART”. She said, “actually it takes a picture.” Oh, okay. And oh man, how cool.

Most of the rest of the day I slow-cooked a batch of enchiladas. I mean I cooked the chicken. And then I chopped green pepper and onions. And then I put the sauce together. And when the chicken cooled, I sliced it up. Eventually I slowly put it all together. And guess what. We ate the whole darn thing.

We have a lot of people here for overnight, which is very fun, and a couple of Mouse’s friends came to visit this afternoon. They were soooo much fun.

Here is the GG rummaging the refrigimatator for food for his sandwich for tomorrow.

This was yesterday’s sunset after hours of sturm und drang. There was a seiche down the beach a way but I didn’t get pics of it because I had demanded to do the dishioshios. The gals got some GREAT pics and maybe they’ll send me some so I can share. Hint hint.

BTW “the gals” are my two 30-somethings and their 20-something second cousin. She’s my cousin’s daughter, meaning she’s my 1st cousin once removed. Because I am so close to my cousins on both sides of the family, my tongue keeps slipping up and referring to these young folks as my nieces and nephews, which they are not. We were laughing this morning when the young 1st cousin once removed next door and his lovely SO were leaving. Liz remembered back when they were all little kids and Liz’s grandma (my mom) always kept a supply of cookies around. Our cousin’s grandma (next door) did not (not dissing her at all 🧡🧡🧡). This then little cousin came over one day, pressed his face into the screen door and asked my mom, “What time do you let the cookies out?” Mom was entranced.

This is turning into a pretty good Busman’s Holiday and that’s okay because I happen to like Busman’s Holidays. I have made a grock run every other day or so since all the company arrived. MASKED! And I will make another one tomorrow and maybe even Saturday. I also FINALLY took two green bags of garbage up to the trash compactor on the res today. I love that little drive up on the Road to Nowhere and I extended it today by driving up through the res to Iroquois Lighthouse.

The other thing we are dealing with is that MASSIVE sturm und drang rolled through The Planet Ann Arbor yesterday and The Landfill is without power (we think). npJane offered to go over and check things out and remove stuff from the freezer if necessary. But she doesn’t have her own key and our hidden key seems to have gone missing. Latest estimate on return to power is TOMORROW NIGHT! We have a hardwood floor in the chitchen. I hope it doesn’t get flooded… Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it and we are very thankful that npJane OFFERED to go over there and check things out 🧡🧡🧡. That’s (in part) what cousins are for. JANE, WE OWE YOU BIG TIME!

This pic doesn’t really show what my eyes could see but sideways rain was one of our featured weather events today. It rained heavily this afternoon and at some point the wind kicked up over Gitchee Gumee and pushed a ton of rain into our woods and parking area. It’s okay. We needed it.

This storm also featured a lot of thunder and lightning. At the height of the storm, the GG decided he needed to reconnect with one of his Implements of Too Much Fun, which added a new dimension to the sound of thunder. This went on for a long time and so did the storm and we were all a little worried that he might get hit by lightning. But then I realized! HE’S SHOOTING FROM INSIDE THE GARAGE. That meant he was safe from lightning and shooting across our little two-track Cabin Road is much less dangerous than it sounds because on the opposite side of the road is a SWAMP and vehicular traffic is very sparse.

We had lunch from Penny’s Kitchen today! Our young cousinly visitor went to town today on work business and going to Penny’s Kitchen is one of her favorite things to do up here so we put an order in and she picked it up for us. I had a half pesto grill sandwich and a cup of gumbo. It’s been two years since I’ve had a sandwich and gumbo from Penny’s and I WOLFED it all down. Our beach community’s history with Penny’s is long but we won’t go there today. I can say that in addition to their wonderful sandwich menu, I have on multiple occasions watched as an employee has worked with someone to construct a custom sandwich to meet their needs. Picky kid? Gluten-averse adult? They have got your back.

Lizard Breath made us gorgeous chicken and veggies with naan tonight and I am insisting on doing the dishioshios. But I’m gonna wait until Mouse finishes her shower because sometimes running water in the chitchen sink interferes with the running water in the shower.

G’night. KW

The first time I saw a slug in, well, I would say “nature”, but it was in an inside location, was… My lizard moved to San Fran after college and I flew (yes) out to see her in her first apartment out there, which was actually in Berkeley. Incidentally, I LOVED Berkeley and when we went shopping at the Berkeley Bowl, somebody thought I WORKED there and was asking me where various things were. I mean, I flew out from Detroit Metro this morning? I guess I emanate hippie-type vibes from all the years I’ve lived on the Planet Ann Arbor even though we are nowhere near as “hippie” as Berkeley? I soooo wanted to be a hippie when I was a kid but I really wouldn’t have fit in with that crowd. I do still carry some of their values though.

Anyway, there was a slug in the Berkeley Bathroom one morning when I got up to take a shower HOURS before Liz and Jess (BFFs since middle school but that’s a whole ‘nother story) because I was still on eastern time. I was so entranced with the slug (“entranced” is probably not the right word) that I took an iPhone pic. Except I’m not sure I had an iPhone yet. That might’ve been the next year. Anyway. I’m not sure if that was the morning I was separated from my suitcase for a while and had to go commando until I reconnected with it. TMI? Sorry.

Actually, I’m probably lying about my first slug sighting. When the beach urchins were just barely old enough (something like 10 and seven) to be left Home Alone for short periods of time, we took a walk one Saturday and left them Home Alone. When we returned, they were out in the “garden” with a can of beer. Huh? No no no no they were not drinking the beer. They had poured it into a cup to try to trap slugs. Something like that. I can’t really remember. I do remember that our fun partying neighbors the Burkes were watching and were highly entertained. Probably wondering how we would react when we got home. Of course, we just laughed.

So. We are here at the moomincabin and there are slugs EVERYWHERE. I do not remember us ever having slugs here. My cousins Susal and Sandal stopped by today and they are marginally older than me and THEY do not remember slugs ever being here. But they are all over the place and here is the GG sweeping them off the deck. We won’t talk about ticks, which are everywhere in the Great Lake State but do NOT seem to be in our woods yet… … … Knock on wood.

P.S. The “kids” tell me there were slugs here a few years ago. I dunno why but I don’t remember them.

…from the moomincabin chitchen. At least for today. My mouse did let me wash a few sniggly little bits of dishioshios (and I sneaked some in earlier when nobody was looking). Doing dishes is one of the things I *do*. I have written about this before.

I was pretty happily banished overall and read my current book most of the day plus the usual doom-scrolling. I’m re-reading True North, a Jim Harrison book. He’s an acclaimed author I am personally iffy about. I wasn’t enamored of it the first time around but one of my beach urchins liked it so I’m giving it another go and liking it better. I do enjoy reading about geographical areas I’m familiar with, in this case the yooperland.

Going to Canananada, a cautionary tale. The border opened today, at least Canananada is allowing our unclean masses to enter their country. I’m not sure why with all of our stoopid polly-tickle COVID crapola. A childhood/facebook friend, life-long Michigan side Sault Ste. Siberian tried to go to Canada today. Why? To visit his MOTHER, who lives on the Ontario side and he hasn’t seen her since you know when. He spent THREE HOURS on the International Bridge. He posted progress updates as he inched along. I was hoping that his posts would culminate in a selfie with him and his mother. Alas, it was not to be. Apparently he lacked a special phone app to provide his COVID status at Canadian customs.

Our visiting cousin worked remotely today and the GG made all kinds of noise with power washers and this beastie, the DNR trail mower. And eventually he drove the Motor Bote over to Porterlandia and back.

And it was hotter than Hades today but now it’s raining so…

Sayonara, KW

The troops are here and they got actually organized about grockery lists last night. Me and my mouse took Cygnus in to Meijer early this morning to stock up. She drove. She also has a (gorgeous orange) Crosstrek but it’s a few years older than my new one and is a stick shift (her choice) so she was curious about how mine might be different. They are different but they are both beautiful and sweet vee-hickles.

Power shop? Yes. It was almost like shopping with Uber Kayak Woman. Each of us grabbed a small cart and divvied up the list (on our iPhone Notes app). I ended up with dairy and pantry and I was supposed to do meat (which was a couple of minor things like sliced lunch turkey and bacon). I did fine with dairy and pantry but totally forgot meat but my mouse was on the ball so we came home with most of what we needed.

Here we are loading up Cygnus with our two carts. How much did we spend? You do not want to know. I was having a mild panic attack about how loaded up the refrigimatator would be but my beach urchins totally took care of that and it’s all okay.

And then… And then… The other lizardy type beach urchin CLEANED THE BATHROOM. I mean REALLY CLEANED it. Including pulling all the gross slimy hair outta that shower drain and replacing the moldy shower curtain that I guess I have been ignoring all these years. 10 maybe? I do actually clean the bathroom and the terlet was pronounced clean enough that it didn’t need to be scrubbed today. Whew!

Some mothers of adult children might be insulted about their kids offering to help with this kind of stuff. I am grateful for the help, especially as I continue to baby step my way out of a year of pandemic isolation. I know how to cook for crowds and clean bathrooms and organize overcrowded refrigimatators but I feel a bit diminished. I’ll get my mojo back. I am loving that my daughters and their second cousin are here tonight.

And as we all SHOULD know, the pandemic is NOT finished. Sigh. WE BOTH MASKED TODAY. PLEASE DO THE SAME. AND VAX YOURSELF IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY.

And absolutely refused to let me help. It’s okay. They were done in like five minutes or so. I was sitting outside on the deck and took this pic through the chitchen window. When I was something like 10, The Commander managed to lock us all outta the cabin after a trip to town. I climbed through this window and unlocked the doors from the inside. Ain’t no way I could do that now.

So we are here with both our 30-something kiddos. We cooked shish-kebab and corn for tonight. After that the beach urchins walked the beach and swam and we talked to various relatives who were walking by. At one point I texted my beach urchins that if they encountered a young man, it was their second cousin once removed (I think). They did encounter him but not sure if they knew who he was in the moment.

I’m pretty much done for tonight. The GG took his yeti outfit around to various beach neighbors and was a hit.

Last year we were here at the moomincabin alone pretty much 100% of the time. We did interact with the cousin-neighbors at the Old Cabin but only outdoors. They had been as careful about isolating as we had.

This year is a whole different ballgame (although we are still careful). We are expecting both daughters and SOs next week plus a beloved young cousin and some of her friends. I have been cranky in the past about people sending various “vacation” spreadsheets around but this year, my beach urchins have put together a google spreadsheet for food ideas and I am LOVING THIS.

I expect to schlep into town to get grocks umpteen bazillion times and I am okay with this. Meijer is a go-to store for us, especially since we don’t have to go all the way into town to get to it but this morning I made a run to Pat’s. Pat’s is soooo familiar to me. It was the A&P when I was a little kid and the main grokkery store we went to (along with the Red Owl and sometimes the Piggly Wiggly). My grandma bought me a Barbie Dreamhouse and my brother a Battleship toy at the A&P when we were kids. If I have it right, my grandfather’s family moved from northern Saskatchewan to Soo Mich because his mother (a widow) had brothers who owned the grocery store that became the A&P.

We have shopped at many big stores up in the yooperland over my adult years. Glen’s and now Meijer. The A&P became SuperValu and The Commander shopped there and sometimes when I was staying with her at the Dillon house I would walk down Easterday hill to get provisions. SuperValu has now become Pat’s (although the sign still says SuperValu) and it is a WONDERFUL store. One of the things they have sold since I was a young adult shopping there with my mom is beautiful whole tenderloins for like 25-30 dollars. I bought one today to make kebabs tomorrow night (I froze half of it). I will probably buy a couple/three to freeze and take home to The Planet.

A song from my early childhood. My dad used to sing it. I had no idea what the implications of the words were when I was a small child. In fact I didn’t really think much about it until I was well into adulthood. I am not bow-legged. In fact, although I in NO WAY resemble Twiggy (remember her?), I am one of those weird people who have space between their thighs, which is different than bow-legged. Maybe TMI but also, go figger.

You are happy that I didn’t post a pic of meeeee in this wet bathing suit. You’re welcome. I like to call this my Walmart bathing suit but in fact I think I ordered it somewhere online. Even my Walmart bathing suit was not actually from Walmart. It was from J.C. Penney. I am not really a Walmart shopper although my old boss the LSCHP used to sometimes send my team down to Walmart to buy Halloween decorations or whatever.

What happened was I drove my mouse and goose (her good friend) up here for a week one year in mid-JUNE when they were in middle school. I told them to pack bathing suits even though I expected Gitchee Gumee to be too cold for swimming at that time of year. As it turned out it was NOT too cold for swimming, EVEN FOR ME. Problem? I had not packed MY bathing suit. I did find a decent one that didn’t make me look too much like a whale at J.C. Penney but I think this one is a newer one. They were in middle school a long time ago when the grandparents were still alive and VERY MUCH kicking!

I went swimming today for the first time this summer and it is definitely NOT too cold for swimming but then it usually isn’t in August. It was SO hot and steamy today the lake was the only way to cool off. Swimming for me these days constitutes walking out until it’s deep enough to get fully immersed, including my head, dunking, and slowly walking my hands along the sand on the lake bottom back to the beach. Our bay is SHALLOW this year. Usually I can get to waist deep between the first and second sandbars.

Although there is a new micro-prodject that might be on my plate and I left myself open to being pinged tomorrow if needed. Both Amazon Woman and I think they can muddle through it without me but I did make the offer.

I always offer that kind of service especially if I don’t have much on my vacation “calendar” and I DON’T unless you count the category “as little as possible.” But I cannot forget the time I left for a Florida vacation without posting the latest version of a couple documents where other people could access them AND didn’t take my work laptop with me.

We were hanging out at the Ringling Art Museum with TBSuze and Mr. Ed when AW texted me… Uhhhhh… Hmmmm… What do I do? If I had HAD my laptop, I wouldda said when I get back to the Sea Club, I’ll log on and post them. But… In no less than a miraculous set of circumstances, I was aware that my MOUSE was at my HOUSE doing laundry. My mouse is SMART. So I called her up from the museum courtyard and walked her through the arduous process of logging onto my laptop, locating the files, and emailing them to AW. The scariest part of this process was communicating my finger-breaking laptop password over the phone but ultimately it was successful. Whew! Again, my mouse is SMART!

Since then I travel with my work laptop if I will be away from work on business days. I worked the last three days but I am off for a bit but I really don’t mind being pinged. This is like an hour’s worth of work and my main plans for tomorrow involve things like sorting the refrigimatator because our kids and my late MacMu cousin’s daughter are coming up this weekend. It’ll be great fun but I have to get organized.

Facetime with MMCB₁ this morning for the first time since she returned from Iceland. Yes. Iceland is a lot more proactive about COVID prevention than our stoopid country with all of its STUPID COVIDIOTS. Wanna go out to eat without a mask? GET FRICKIN’ VAXXED! Yay for NYC where vaccines are now required for some public indoor spaces, at least last I heard.

So, right to left… My cuzzints Susal and Sandal (Sandal is on the left actually). Those are variants on their names and coined by another cuz UKW when we were little kids. They are a few years older than me and UKW (a negligible difference at this age). They are sisters and best friends. They are really really really nice and always have been even when I was a “little” kid clamoring for them to play with me. They loved their uncle (my dad) and I can remember them harassing him, ambushing him on the beach or whatever. When we were all a lot younger. I knew they were arriving (next door) yesterday and I immediately recognized their laughter as they got out of their car.

The dog belongs to “Sandal” and I cannot remember its name but she always has really nice dogs.

Dad? Well. He is not my cuzzints’ dad and he is not my dad. He is my kids’ dad and when you get to a certain point in your life you get referred to as “dad” depending on who is taking or viewing the pic.

“Dad” took off this morning with a DNR trail mower and was gone ALL DAY! That was okay with me (I was space-i-fied) but I didn’t exactly know when he left. I made a quick run to Meijer early in the morning and when I got back, he was futzing around with the garage, Mooon Yooonit, and the Trash Trailer so I moved Cygnus to the driveway to get it outta the way and didn’t notice when “dad” left. And then, hours later, I was kinda wondering where the heck he was. After eight miles of mowing, he is home and showered (thank you very much) and about to start barbecuing chicken thighs.

As I worked in various places today (Lyme Lounge and moomincabin deck), I watched cars going along the road to and from my [late] uncle’s cabin next door. I love all the activity and hearing the voices I’ve known forever.

G’night. KW

P.S. How do you like that gorgeous sugar sand there on the moominbeach? It is rock, not shells because this is a Great Lake freshwater beach. I love shell beaches too.

I can’t remember when The Commander bought the Owl Soup Bowl. Given the design, I’m gonna guess it was when I was a teenager or young adult. I don’t know where she bought it but I’m sure she didn’t pay much for it so probably some discount store or tourist trap in Sault Ste. Siberia. I don’t remember it being used as a soup bowl and, for that matter, I don’t know why she only bought one. What it has been used for in my memory is to hold sewing pins. The Commander used it for a while before giving it to me when I went to college or wherever.

Under my care, it lost its handle but it remained the favored receptacle for sewing pins at The Landfill and I must’ve given it to my mouse at some point although when I received this photooo today I could swear I thought I had recently seen it in the Landfill Dungeon. Do I have a ghost down there 👀? Apparently the handle-less one broke catastrophically in a tragic accident a few months ago. She set up an eBay alert (no clue how she found it on there!) and now she has TWO! With intact handles!

As valuable as this item is, at least to some of us, it would’ve been okay if it couldn’t have been replaced. The Commander would have agreed with that. When Lizard Breath was a wee tot, The Comm gave her a ceramic cow pitcher and said, “WHEN it breaks, I’ll get you a new one.” It did eventually break but I don’t think it was Lizard who broke it. I have a vague memory of mouse standing at the sink happily swinging it around and yes, it broke. Also. No, I shouldn’t have let her play with that at the sink since it was breakable and she could’ve been hurt. Bad Mother.

A while ago, I posted something on here about saving stuff just because it once belonged to someone. This humble artifact did in fact once belong to someone but it also has a little bit of history, now multi-generational.

P.S. Photo credit to 🐭

When I arrived at Hoton Lake yesterday, I had to do a double-take trying to figure out where our cabin was. Ever since I began visiting the place, the neighbors had a big red “garage” out back of their place. They sold their place a while back and the new owners razed the old red garage and built a fancy new one. It’s still red but it is sooo different. On top of that, our place was ringed with camping trailers. I mean much fancier ones than the Lyme Lounge. So I was like, “where do I turn?” Finally I saw the cFam cabin looming behind all the trailers (to be truthful, it was only the two trailers in the pic). Oh yeah. I am here. Now. Where do I park? 🐽

The new (i.e. rebuilt) cFam cabin can accommodate quite a few people with four bedrooms and two bathrooms but when people bring their fancy trailers (with bathrooms), it helps ease congestion, not to mention providing introverts with freakout chambers.

I had a hard time leaving these wonderful in-laws but we got on the road in the late morning, continuing our northward journey to the yooperland. The traffic was NOT as nutso as on some of my other post-pandemic journeys and my post-pandemic freeway driving anxiety mostly didn’t kick in until we got to the Mackinac Bridge where the backup for the toll booths started at mid-span. I reminded myself that I have NEVER been afraid of that bridge. I REMEMBER the ferries and my family driving over the bridge the first day it was open. Because we COULD! I was able to calm myself at least until the GG started switching lanes… Hey buddy, I at least want to keep you in sight. But driving I75 in the yooperland was a no-traffic dream as it usually is and I couldn’t believe how fast we got to our exit at Rudyard.

All of our frozen meat/seafood made it all the way up to the yooperland still frozen. Tonight’s steaks are thawing and marinating in cold water. We did manage to leave a bag of farm produce at Hoton Lake. The GG saw it but didn’t know it was ours. I had planned to double-check the garage fridge to make sure we got everything but totally forgot. I hope the folks at Hoton Lake are able to put my produce to good use because it would be slime by the time I get back there.

These trips can be soooo complicated 🧡

Okay. I am here at Hoton Lake with 13 (or is it 16?) people and is it three or four dogs? I love all of these people but I am not sure why I agreed to spend the night here. Yikes. I have told the Uncly Uncle and TBGay that as an introvert I might need to take breaks. This was okay with them and TBGay admits to similar issues but she is the mother of three and the grandmother of six and she is in her element when her family is around. And so am I because her kids all absolutely rock and it is so fun to be with them.

They are all here for a week or so but we are leaving for the moomincabin tomorrow for an indeterminate number of weeks. A potentially difficult situation is that I have a few hundred dollars of frozen meat and seafood to transport to the yooperland. I got here and stashed it all into the garage refrigerator’s freezer for overnight. I struggled with all of that stuffing (I couldn’t get both doors to shut at the same time) and then later on it turned out the appliance was apparently not working. So… What happens if all that stuff spoils? It came on again but we will have to monitor it.

I dunno. I’m having a great time here talking to my nieces and nephews and their partners and listening to their kids run around like crazy and so I am kinda done with this blahg for tonight. I will say that the GG has spent the last couple days splitting logs and putting them back together like you might be able to see here. He seems to have to spend a few days every couple years doing hard labor at Hoton Lake.

Faaar going down by the water. G’night and typos be damned. KW

I dunno what else to say here. I’m gonna get up in the morning and drive to Hoton Lake. I haven’t been there since
February 2020.

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